Yo Tribe's Traditional Costume and Pattern

요족(瑤族)의 전통 복식과 문양

The modern trend in costumes, influenced by postmodernism, is to use of various patterns and images borrowed from diverse cultures of many ethnic groups. The Yo tribe studied in this paper is miner ethnic group in China, whose traditional costume is very splendid and modern. In addition, its embroidery pattern has a high artistic value in that its shapes are diverse and splendid and each one has its own peculiar elegance. As for the research method, I examined the Yo tribe's history, culture, traditional costumes and design patterns through related books, research papers, internet sites, and etc. The results of the paper are as follows. The Yo tribe's costumes consist of a jacket, trousers or a skirt, an apron and a belt. Although the color of the costumes is all black, there are splendid embroidery decorations with the colors of red, orange, yellow, green and white on the chest or shoulder part of a jacket, the adjusting lines, cuffs, or a part of a trousers and aprons. The types of the patterns represented in the Yo tribe's traditional costumes are related to nature, ancestor worship, ethnic legends, history, religion, and agricultural lives. The method by which the Yo tribe expressed on their costumes is a "peach-blossom" technique, which uses cross-shaped embroidery with wrap and woof threads. Because it is not apt to express delicate and detailed patterns, the Yo tribe's patterns tend to show abstract and geometrical forms.